Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127533
eINTERVIEW Motocrolser Jeff Matiasevich ! Remarkable recovery ~ ....... I couldn 't get the bike to do what I. wanted it to do and the resu lts were there to sho w it. But I loved the KX500. It was fu n to ride, so I was am ped to ride the 500cc Na tional Series. And I broke my leg. • That was reall y dep ressing. I was up emotionally for that race, for the serie s. I got to the hospital, and they tol d me it would take 18 months to heal. My career was over. ' Why did yo u think it was over? Didn't you think it wou ld still be po ssib le to come back after th at length of time? Yes. But right the n my worl d came to an end. I was in a daze sitting in the hospital bed. I was in the hospital for a week, bu t the day after surgery I go t up and said, 'Give me some crutches.' I started wa lking down the ha ll way. It was amazing ho w fast my endura nce went , away. I cou ldn' t wal k 20 feet without resting. It was the wei rdest thing. Before I brok e my leg, I could run five miles, do an ything. The day after, I couldn 't go 20 feet with out sitting down. They said it would take abou t six months before th e tissue and muscle wou ld come o ut of shoc k and heal. But I've been trying to build up the leg since th e sur gery, and it 's come a long way. I'm' happy, bu t it's no t sho wing fast eno ugh. T he doc tors in Minnesota told you it would take 18 months to comp letely recover, but what did your doctors in California tell you? First I went to Dr. Almq uist, wh o ha s worked wit h pro foot ball p layers and (Left) Jeff Matiasevich is still working hard to build strength in his right leg . (Below ) Mat iasevich (9) has run near th e front in su p ercross heats an d ,mains, but he hasn't fully regained his sta mina an d slipp ed back in the pack. By N ate Rauba hen Kawasaki 's Jeff Matiasevich crashed at the ope nin g ro und of the 1991 Nati o nal Champion shi p 500cc MX Series last August and bro ke the femur in hi s right thig h , he th ought his career was over. T he doctors told Matiasevich tha t it would be at least one year before he wo uld be fi t to compete again, bu t soon after he reco vered from surgery to insert a metal rod to sup port the hea ling bone, he was back on h is feet. In jus t a few months, after extens ive thera p y wi th pe rsonal trainer J eff Spencer , Matiasevich was riding a mo torcycle again and com pe ting in loca l events. Wh en th e Camel Supercross Series began o n Jan uary II, exactly five mon th s after the fracture, Mat iasevich was on the start ing line for th e main event. Matiasevich fin ished II th at that ope ni ng round in Orlando, but the next week in H ouston he battled with Damon Bradshaw for th e lead then hel d second p lace for some time before he got tired and faded back to sixth. H e was n ever in co n ten tio n a n d finished eighth at round th ree in Ana heim. Prior to th e Anaheim Supercross, W 16 Matiasevich sat down and told us abo ut hi s cras h a n d remar ka b le recovery. ***** What caused the crash in Millville? T here was a big sand wash wit h 3-4 foot wh oo ps. I went through the first sectio n, the n there was a turn that loo ped aroun d and co n nected th e secon d section of whoops. The turn was o n smooth , hard dirt so I carried a lo t of speed into the second set of wh oops. I wh eelied over th e fir st whoop , tapped 'the rear wh eel on the second and dro pped into the third. When I hit the rear whe el o n th e second o ne, the back end went com p letely sideways and ejected me o nt o the fou rth whoop. It brok e th e femur, and I was calling J esus. I was in a lo t of pa in . It took abou t an hour to get to the hospital after that , and it wasn ' t pl easant. Aside from the p ain , did you have any time to think about wbat happened? I was thinking that my career was over. That was th e first th in g I tho ught of. Did that scare you? I was very scared. The season had n 't been going well. The bikes didn 't hav e the powerband tha t sui ts my riding style. No matter how hard I worked, is a really good sports doctor, and he tol d ' me it wou ld be a year befor e I was completely healed. And to recover in tha t tim e he said I'd have to work my ass off, I' d have to go thro ugh some painful situations. J eff Spencer had some all-natural pills to he lp the healing progress. (According to Spencer, part of Matiasevic h's rehabili ta ti on tr eatment involved severa l vitamin and mi neral co m bi na tions to p rom ote bo n e growth, figh t infl ammation and break do wn the injured tissue. Spencer says that the methods are no t commo nly recog nized by the medical commu nity.) I went to Dr. Almq uist once a month for checkups while working with Spencer. Whe n I firs t go t ho me I couldn't bend my knee very well, so I tried to get o n a bicycle but could n't do a full ro tatio n . It too k abo u t two weeks before I cou ld completely bend the leg. T he n 1 was on a stat io nary bicycle at my house. Every week there was such a massive im proveme nt that it made wor kin g hard wort hw hile beCause I co uld see the resu lts. One month after I bro ke the leg, I called up Kawasaki and told them I wanted a bik e so I co uld go trail riding. They said no, bu t I argued and got th e bike. It was just ano ther form of exercisi ng. Weren 't you afraid of injuring the leg again? T he firs t tim e I go t on the motorcycle, I went over the bar s. What did th e doctor say about your quick recovery? . Dr. Almquist was flipping o ut. He loo ked at me in shock , bu t told me he liked seein g people who di dn ' t sit on the couc h wa iting for so mething to heal. You can exercise to an extent wh en you're injured. It helps the injury becau se you' re pushing blood thro ugh